Which country owns the Galapagos Islands?

The Galápagos Islands belong to Ecuador. They form Ecuador’s Galápagos Province, an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean near the Equator, about 1,000 kilometres west of mainland Ecuador.

Ecuador formally incorporated the islands in 1832, three years after the country separated from Gran Colombia. The province’s capital is Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, located on San Cristóbal Island. The islands are governed as part of Ecuador even though they are geographically far from the mainland.

The Galápagos became famous through Charles Darwin’s 1835 visit aboard HMS Beagle. Differences among tortoises, mockingbirds and other island species helped him think about geographic variation and adaptation. The observations contributed to the ideas later developed in On the Origin of Species.

A common mix-up is assuming the islands belong to Colombia because Ecuador was once part of Gran Colombia. They are Ecuadorian territory today. The archipelago is also protected as Galápagos National Park and is surrounded by a large marine reserve.